Quaker Records

From the time of their first arrival in Ireland in the seventeenth century, The Society of Friends, or Quakers, kept rational and systematic records of the births, marriages and deaths of all of their members, and in most cases these continue without a break up to the present. Parish registers as such were not kept. Each of the local weekly meetings reported any births, marriages or deaths to a larger Monthly Meeting, which then entered them in a register. Monthly Meetings were held in the following areas: Antrim, Ballyhagan, Carlow, Cootehill, Cork, Dublin, Edenderry, Grange, Lisburn, Limerick, Lurgan, Moate, Mountmellick, Richhill, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, and Wicklow. For all but Antrim and Cootehill registers have survived from an early date, and are detailed here
.

The entries for births, marriages and deaths do not themselves contain information other than the names and addresses of the immediate parties involved, but the centralisation of the records, and the self-contained nature of the Quaker community, make it a relatively simple matter to establish family connections; many of the local records are given in the form of family lists, in any case.

There are two main repositories for records, the libraries of the Society of Friends in Dublin and Lisburn. The LDS Library in Salt Lake City has microfilm copies of the records of the Dublin Friends' library. As well as the records outlined below, these also hold considerable collections of letters, wills, family papers, as well as detailed accounts of the discrimination suffered by the Quakers in their early years.

Fully comprehensive listings of the dates and locations of all
known copies of Church records, cross-linked to the areas they
cover, can be found through the Ancestor
Search or the Subscription section.

Births Marriages and Burials

Ballyhagan Marriages. Library of the Society of Friends, Lisburn. Also NLI Pos. 4127.

Carlow births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1021.

Cork, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. (NLI Pos. 1021). See also Cork (seventeenth to nineteenth centuries) NLI Pos. 5530.

Dublin, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1021 (births and marriages) and 1022 (burials).

Edenderry, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1022; 1612 1814 (in the form of family lists), NLI Pos. (microfilm) 5531.

Grange, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1022.

Lisburn, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1022.

Limerick, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1022.

Lurgan, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. (NLI Pos. 1022) See also Lurgan Marriage Certificates, Library of the Society of Friends, Lisburn. (NLI Pos. (microfilm) 4126).

Moate, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1022.

Mountmellick, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1023. and Positive 5530.

Mountrath. Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 5530.

Richhill, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1023.

Tipperary, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1024.

Waterford, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1024.

Wexford, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1024.

Wicklow, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1024.

Youghal, births, marriages and deaths up to 1859, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1024.

Births, Marriages and Deaths throughout Ireland 1859-1949, Library of the Society of Friends, Dublin. Also NLI Pos. 1024.